TRADE UNION SIPTU has hit out at moves by Killarney Golf Club to make 24 out of 40 staff redundant.
The dispute was brought before the Labour Relations Commission last year before being referred to the Labour Court earlier this year. An independent assessor was then appointed to evaluate the club’s financial position.
SIPTU sector organiser Dennis Hynes criticised the company’s continuance to seek redundancies, saying that management “has shown complete intransigence in relation to changes in the operation of the business.”
“Workers are particularly angered that such an approach is being shown by a business whose majority shareholder is the State agency, Fáilte Ireland,” he said.
Adding that employees had already agreed to take a five per cent wage cut and are willing to engage with management “on other changes”, Hynes said that the recent assessors report had shown that the company’s financial position did not warrant such redundancies:
The assessor’s report indicated that management had greatly exaggerated the financial difficulties of the club. The report concluded that a degree of restructuring and some job losses were necessary to ensure the business’s profitability rather than the 35 per cent pay cut and enforced redundancy of the majority of staff which is being sought by management.
A recent recommendation by the Labour Court said that it was clear “that a significant number of redundancies” would have to be considered.
The court also said that the company’s decision to no longer to offer ex-gratia payments as part of a redundancy package would make agreement unlikely “unless the company can find the means to alter its current stance in that regard.”
A Labour Court judgment on the dispute is expected in the coming weeks.
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